2021: Marathon to Marco Island to Punta Gorda to Cayo Costa

29 March 2021 - Fun and Chores Before Departure

With days counting down until departure for this season, I had just one more chance to get together with the Wilson girls for a painting session. I drew some pictures for the girls to work with. This time only Mia and Ella came over to participate in an art session.

Ella and the seahorse she colored

Ella's art

Mia's Ice Cream Cone -
Strawberry and Blue Raspberry
with a cherry on top

Mia's art = fish, scallop shell, cone, and starfish

Our scheduled departure date was April 1st but the weather decided not to cooperate, and Clark moved our day up by one. I had planned to use Wednesday for last minute chores - laundry, vacuum, etc. With the change of plans, those chores moved to today.

30 March 2021 - Key West / Stock Island Trip with Millers

We saved today for an outing with Sandy and Bill Miller -- L'Attitude Adjustment. Sandy drove me to Publix first thing to do last minute provisioning for tomorrow's departure. Once that was done, Clark and I piled into the car with Sandy and Bill for a trip to Key West / Stock Island for lunch. We left it up to Sandy to decide on a place, and she came up with Hogfish Bar as our destination. 

Having never been there before, it was the perfect choice and the food was amazing. Clark had the "Killer" hogfish sandwich. It was so tall I couldn't figure out how he would get it into his mouth. I had the hogfish fish and chips that were light and delicious. 

We walked around the area a bit after lunch to see the sights. 

Hogfish Bar

Several years ago Clark and I visited the Mel Fisher Museum in Key West. Today we got to see Mel Fisher's boat that he used to recover gold and relics from old shipwrecks. 

Mel Fisher's Boat
Note the pipes at the stern to blow sand away to uncover the gold.

Along the dock, we saw gardens that used whatever incredibly small area of land was available to display someone's artistic ability. 

The sign says:
"Life is not about waiting for the rain to pass. It's 
about learning to dance in the rain."

Private hideaway near the docks

One of several metal sculptures near the docks

Metal sculpture - Hogfish - near the restaurant

Before heading back to Marathon, Sandy drove us around Stock Island for a bit. Key West is an interesting place with interesting things to see.

Car decorated with shells

Side view of "shell" car

Mural - Fishbusterz

On the drive back to Marathon, we passed a now familiar sight of "Fat Albert" hovering over the lower keys.

Fat Albert Blimp

Clark and I were not the only ones about to leave Faro Blanco. Two dockhands named Tom and Jerry had their last day working at the marina today, so boaters planned a cake and ice cream farewell. I was asked by the planner to create cards displaying the cartoon characters Tom and Jerry. I found some pictures on the internet that I used for my purpose. I was specifically asked to do the cards in acrylic paint, so that is what I used.

Circle of staff and boaters for farewell cake and ice cream event

Some days feel like multiple days rolled into one. Today was one of those days. Even with all the activities thus far, the day was no yet complete. After the cake and ice cream, we grabbed dinner - living up to the slogan "life is short, eat dessert first" adage. At 6:30 we had a Facetime call with our Michigan friends Jim and Jo Ann McFalls to discuss our upcoming travel plans.

Later, Anna May Wilson came to visit Clark for one final session on electronics before we set sail until next season. She stayed until 11:00 when Clark had to quit to catch the local weather in preparation for tomorrow's departure.

31 March 2021 - Depart Faro Blanco and Head to Marco Island

Depart: Faro Blanco 9:05

Arrive: Marco Island - Smokehouse Bay Anchorage 7:40

Distance: 89 nm

Conditions: 80s, Partly Cloudy, Humid

At 9:00 we were finally ready to depart. Sandy came over to say goodbye and brought me a home-cooked mini loaf of rye bread. She knows how much I enjoy her treats. When we were ready to leave, Sandy and Bobby Wilson helped us release our lines one last time. It is bittersweet - leaving friends but at the same time being ready to get underway and see new sights.

Goodbye Faro Blanco - until next time!

The trip across the Gulf to Marco Island was tedious. It is a long trip made especially challenging with crab traps. Every time we put the boat on autopilot, we would come upon a mine field of traps. Sadly, the waters were "peppered" with traps, i.e. randomly distributed, making it hard to find a path to travel. 

To make it more interesting, the boat seems to have a homing device as it automatically seeks traps. On autopilot, the boat aims for any trap it can find. With a following sea, it made it particularly difficult to guess which trap was the boat's target.  While steering, we played the guessing game - which trap will it be? when do we take the boat off autopilot to steer? can we miss this one without taking control? We had hours of "fun" playing this boat game.

We had the sun in my eyes for part of the time. Clark laughed at my solution to the problem. 

Cockeyed Cap

When traveling this direction, we don't normally aim for Marco Island. We normally stop at the Little Shark anchorage. After almost 10 hours traveling, we arrived at Big Marco Pass at 6:40 and had our anchor down in Smokehouse Bay at 7:40. 

Approaching Marco Island

Last time we passed by this area, we saw devastation from Hurricane Irma. Clearly a lot of work has been done to restore damaged buildings like the one below. This building had large chunks of cement patios that had broken off and cluttered the destroyed docks. Now the building has new balconies and docks.

Refurbished building at entrance to Smokehouse Bay

Tour boat on waters in and around Marco Island.

I was excited to see a pirate ship and even more excited when I saw the haling port listed on the stern - Beach Haven, New Jersey!

Black Pearl Pirate Ship

Most homes in the area have a lanai, and many of them are big enough to have a pool enclosed by the screens. As we wove our way into the anchorage, we passed many houses with kids playing in the pools inside a lanai.

Typical house lanai in Marco Island

After such a long day on the water, I was very happy to see the anchor splash down into Smokehouse Bay.

1 April 2021 - Visit friends in Punta Gorda

Depart: Marco Island Anchorage 8:00
Arrive: Punta Gorda Private Dock 5:20

Distance: 77 nm

Conditions: Cloudy, Brief Light rain in a.m.

Last night, Clark told me to be ready to depart at 8:30 this morning, but when I woke up, he said that we needed to leave at 8:00 to beat the oncoming rain. That plan did not quite work out as it started to rain albeit lightly right as Clark went out to raise the anchor. Fortunately, the rain did not last, and we had dry weather for the remainder of our trip. At one point I spotted a rainbow and Clark took pictures. Unfortunately, the rainbow did not show well in any of his pics.

Cloudy skies chasing us north

As we traveled we saw some dark waters. We wondered what we were looking at and finally figured out that the patches (there were several we saw) were schools of fish. Getting close, we could sometimes see a fish jump and frequently saw a silvery glitter when the sun hit a jumping fish.

Dark school of fish in Gulf water

We were enjoying the tranquility of a lovely day on the water when, all of a sudden, a boat passed us by at a high rate of speed.

As we arrived at Punta Gorda, we saw a lighthouse on shore. A bit further on we could see smoke from a fire burning nearby.

Lighthouse - Punta Gorda

"Smoke on the water ..."

Entrance to the canals where our friends have their house

We wove our way through the canals to our friends house where we tied up our boat next to theirs on their private dock. Clark was texting with his friend Jim as we motored towards Jim's house. When we arrived, Jim was on his boat ready to receive our lines to tie up for the night.

Enjoying our visit so much, we stayed for two nights at our friend's dock. Clark and Jim talked nonstop while I chatted away with Jim's wife Carol.

3 April 2021 - Cayo Costa 

Depart: Punta Gorda 12:45

Arrive: Cayo Costa anchorage 3:30

Distance: 21 nm

Conditions: Sunny, Chilly 

Although the days have been sunny and reasonably warm, the nights have been quite chilly. When we woke this morning, I saw the thermometer in our stateroom showed 63 degrees. We were not plugged in to electricity at our friend's dock and had no central heat. I was too lazy to set up the electric blanket, so we cuddled under the two blankets I had on the bed. 

Before we said goodnight last night, Carol talked us into coming up to the house for a brunch before leaving for the next leg of our journey. Clark had to drag me away. I wish I had a picture of his face when I said, "I don't want to leave". Pure shock!

As we prepared to leave, Jim remembered that he had some boat lines in his garage that might be suitable for our boat. We decided to take the 5/8" lines. I am not a fan of real fat lines. They are heavier and harder to handle.

We did eventually leave their dock and made our way to Cayo Costa to enjoy an anchorage there.

Anchorage at Cayo Costa

Beached boats at Cayo Costa

Sunset at Cayo Costa

Sunset at Cayo Costa

4 April 2021 - Cayo Costa Manatee Hole Kayak Trip

Sunny, windy, another chilly night

Jim reminded Clark about a manatee hangout located at Cayo Costa, and Clark wanted to check it out. We untied the kayaks and went exploring.

Ev heading towards the manatee pool 

Tip of Clark's kayak as we enter the manatee area

Ev looking for manatees

All we got to see was one tail and a few snouts
like the one poking out of the water in this shot.

As we paddled around the "pool", various small boats came in to look for manatees. Being higher off the water, they had the better view and pointed out many manatees that I could not see at my level. One yelled to me that there was one directly behind me ready to knock me out of my kayak. Oh joy!

We had to watch for the traffic traveling in and out of the entrance to the pool as the space was very narrow. Thankfully we did not have any close encounters.

Time to depart the pool area. Hope nothing comes 
in while we work our way out.

Waving hello to friends via selfie for a text message

As we paddled back the way we came, I could not see our boat anywhere. All I saw was one sailboat after another. I just kept paddling against the wind figuring I would see her eventually. Finally I saw her on the far side of the anchorage. Funny it did not feel as far going the other direction!

With our kayak trip done, we spent the rest of the day lazing around the boat enjoying the anchorage.